[Peetwo]

C 172 Down on Middle Island - MTF

Western Times.

ABC.

C172 incident in Qld .  Update from the ABC now with one confirmed fatality.

Update 13/03/17: Embuggerance or Cowboy Ops that is the question? 

Via 'that man' at the Oz:

Queensland island joy flight went horribly wrong in seconds


The wreckage of the light plane flown by Les Woodall on Middle Island.

Charter service owner and pilot Bruce Rhoades.
[/url][url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/queensland-island-joy-flight-went-horribly-wrong-in-seconds/news-story/a85c490c4465862621ba89f08c750408#]

• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM March 13, 2017[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/0573acb566bb47c45e64e4c55a998aba/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img]
  

Over the seven years cattleman- turned-tourism operator Bruce Rhoades ran adventure tours out of Town of 1770 on Queensland’s central coast, he and fellow pilot Les Woodall did about 40,000 flights without a hitch — until the day their luck ran out, ­spectacularly.
The website of the business owned by Mr Rhoades, 1770 Castaway Island Adventures, asks “Are you up to the challenge? Why not experience a remote tropical island paradise where you’re left to live like a Survivor!”

Mr Rhoades and Mr Woodall, whom he employed, would fly clients, mainly foreign tourists, an eight-minute hop in light single-engine Cessnas to Middle Island, in Eurimbula National Park, landing on the beach. It could be a day trip or a camp for several nights.

On the way, Mr Rhoades freely concedes, they’d perform a few dramatic flying manoeuvres to entertain the tourists: “They are often young people … they like a little bit of an adrenaline rush.”

Mr Rhoades’ robust flying style attracted the attention of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority a few years ago when, he said, “someone got a fright” and complained. A magistrate fined Mr Rhoades for being “reckless”, but he was allowed to keep flying.

But on January 10, a fine morning, Mr Woodall, with three tourists aboard and Mr Rhoades following in the company’s other Cessna, was flying at very low altitude and the engine failed.

The experienced pilot had only seconds to react. He first banked right, apparently to try a water ditching, then banked hard left, trying to land on the beach.

The plane stalled and crashed in a twisted wreck, killing a 29- year-old British woman, critically injuring Mr Woodall and a 21-year-old Irish woman, and cracking the ankle of a 13-year-old boy whose father was in the trailing plane.

The flight, including the wail of the stall warning horn, is recorded in a video taken by a passenger and recovered by police.

Today the case comes before a hearing of the Federal Court in Brisbane, sought by the CASA to extend the ban it imposed on Mr Rhoades from operating the flights.

Mr Rhoades had vowed that he and his lawyers would “blow out of the water” CASA charges suggesting he ran a risky, cowboy ­operation.

Late on Friday, however, he passed up the chance to defend himself and his pilot in open court. Mr Rhoades said he would agree to surrender his air operator certificate. The parties are expected to inform the judge accordingly today.

Mr Rhoades stressed he had made no admissions and still denied CASA allegations. The authority declined to comment.

But it is understood CASA’s investigation will continue. If it were to find what it believes to be civil or criminal breaches, it could take further action against Mr Rhoades, including asking the Director of Public Prosecutions to lay criminal charges.

Seventeen days after the crash, CASA acting chief executive Shane Carmody wrote to Mr Rhoades to say his air operator’s certificate was suspended immediately because, as chief pilot and business owner, he had allowed flying that “contributes to or results in a serious and imminent risk to air safety”.

Mr Carmody wrote that the video showed Mr Woodall flying at 150-200 feet; risky, because if something went wrong such as engine failure, “he would have only minimal altitude, and therefore (minimal) time, to safely manage the upset”.

Mr Carmody criticised what he called “aerobatic manoeuvres”, saying the recording “includes an audible ‘squeal’ from a passenger at the beginning of the abrupt pitch inputs”. The CASA chief said Mr Woodall should have kept up his airspeed after the engine failed, not risked a stall by banking hard, and landed on water if necessary. He alleged the plane’s fuel supply might have been contaminated by debris.

Mr Woodall, who is recovering from major injuries, declined to comment but Mr Rhoades rejected all allegations.

He said the plane had been flying low for a safety inspection of the beach runway, a standard practice; that Mr Woodall’s manoeuvres were fun but not “aerobatic” or dangerous; and that there was no solid evidence of contamination.

He said experience showed water landings in high-wing light aircraft with fixed landing gear usually resulted in everyone aboard drowning. Mr Woodall’s decision to try a beach landing was well-intentioned.

“He did the turn a little bit too sharply, without allowing the nose to descend,” he said.

“He was so close to doing it right.”

Interesting that Comardy is sitting in the position of the decision maker? Will this now be SOP for all 'show cause' enforcement actions or has Carmody sacked anyone else who can make such decisions?

Next I note that NSW Deputy Coroner today handed down his findings on the tragic 2013 Dromader fire fighting accident near Ulladulla. From AAP via the Oz:

Pilot died after 'inadequate' inspection

• Jodie Stephens
  
• Australian Associated Press
  
• 4:32PM March 13, 2017
  

A waterbombing pilot fighting a NSW blaze was killed after his plane's wing broke off mid-flight as a result of cracking and corrosion that was missed during an "inadequate" inspection months earlier, an inquest has found.

David Black, 43, died when his M18 Dromader aircraft crashed in an isolated and mountainous area of the Budawang National Park, in the state's south, on October 24, 2013.

The experienced pilot was preparing to attack a bushfire when the left wing of his aircraft suddenly broke off, causing the aircraft's rapid descent, Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee wrote in his inquest findings released on Monday.

Mr Black left behind his wife of 12 years, Julie, and three young children.

"David and Julie had worked together as a team, industriously, to reach a stage in life where their business was successful, their family was nurtured and cared for, and they were simply able to enjoy life," Mr Lee wrote.

"To lose David in sudden circumstances is heart-rending."

The plane Mr Black was flying was owned by his company, Rebel Ag, which provided aerial support to the NSW Rural Fire Service.

It was tested and inspected just over two months earlier by two companies, Aviation NDT and Beal Aircraft Maintenance, but Mr Lee said the work was inadequately done.

He wrote in his findings that testing by Aviation NDT used an unauthorised method and did not comply with the mandatory requirements of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Further, the plane's wings were not removed during a visual inspection by Beal Aircraft Maintenance, meaning that corrosion and cracking on one of the left wing's attachment lugs was not detected.

By the time Mr Black crashed in October, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found that cracking on the inner surface of the lug had reached a critical length of 10.4 millimetres and at least 32 secondary micro cracks were also identified.

The engineer behind the visual inspection, Donald Beal, told the inquest the manufacturer's service bulletin did not mandate removal of the wings, so he didn't see any need to remove them.

Mr Beal also said there was ambiguity about what visual inspections actually involved, Mr Lee recalled in his findings.

At the NSW Coroner's Court on Monday, Mr Lee recommended that CASA consider issuing a directive that wings be removed during inspections of M18 Dromader planes.

He also recommended they consider a different way of calculating fatigue damage, which did not just rely on flight hours but also looked at other factors that age an aircraft, such as its speed and the weight of loads that it carries.

A CASA spokesman said they would consider the recommendations carefully.

MTF...P2